Observing Log for Mike Durkin 3/1/2026 about 7:00PM-10:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 30-40 degrees Equipment: Seestar S50 I wanted to test a more thorough alignment process as described by the YouTube videos by Space Koala. I did that and took some images of the Monkey Head Nebula (NGC 2174) and the part of the Seagull Nebula, Gum 1. In the end I don't think the extra polar alignment steps helped too much. There probably will also be some amount to trailing in EQ mode, especially in the RA/horizontal direction. Perhaps there is some periodic error that will always be there? Even though there was a nearly full moon, the image of the Monkey Head Nebula looked acceptable, the image of Gum 1 had a significant gradient due to light pollution, so trying to image low in the west or southwest is not a good idea. I also did a quick visual magnitude measurement of α Ori. Other Log Entries <-- 2025 Jan  Feb  Mar   Apr   May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct   Nov   Dec